March Sales: Zoom

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Zoom is the word of the 2020’s, and it doesn’t just apply to friendly gatherings and meetings over the internet; it is fast becoming the only way to describe the incredible real estate market, whether it is in Westmount, Montreal or across the country. Prices in Westmount have been going straight up for 11 months now, past the peak reached briefly last March before the COVID-19 pandemic stopped the market cold in its tracks. As buyers realized they were going to be spending more time at home and needed extra living space or facilities, the value of real estate has gone up nationally and Westmount is no exception.

The average Westmount house is now worth over $2.5 million; the three-month volume is at its highest point since 2017; Westmount had its first sale this year over $5 million in March, and of 13 total sales, none were below $1,100,000; mark-ups over valuation ranged from 10 to 88 percent with an average of 40.6 percent, the highest since the new valuation roll came into force in January last year; seven of the 13 sales took place in less than 10 days, and the average days-on-market plummeted to 52 from 147 in February; four of the 13 sales were above the asking price, one 16 percent above asking after nine days. As one local agent put it, “it’s exhausting!”

In many cases agents were able to double-end the commission, acting as both the listing agent and the buying agent. Four extra sales like this were added to the February sales list, and four more double-enders took place in March.

The condo market was no slouch, either. Volume for the first quarter reached 12 sales, compared to an average of 9 per quarter last year. The average price dropped slightly from $1,095,174 in the fourth quarter of last year to $1,067,750, the only times the average has been over the $1 million mark. Two sales, both at Château Westmount Square, 4175 St. Catherine St., were above $2 million; one very modest apartment on Hillside Ave. sold for $400,00 in late January, the same month an apartment at 200 Lansdowne Ave. sold for 17.8 percent less than valuation, the only mark-down of the quarter. The highest-priced condo sale of the quarter, $2,550,000, also was the highest mark-up at 59 percent

Life was more genteel for agents working the fringes of Westmount, though there were three sales in southern Côte des Neiges (the Circle Road/Cedar Crescent district), and one each in most of the other adjacent-Westmount districts. Houses are selling 75 percent above valuation in the “Golden Square Mile” and only 11 percent above valuation in the Shaughnessy Village area, but of course volume is very low so the statistics are hardly indicative of the market. For the other areas average mark-ups are between 27 and 39 percent.

With the coming of spring, the number of available Westmount house listings increased from 64 in mid-March to 71 in mid-April, still none asking under $1 million for the seventh month in a row but otherwise slight increases in the number of listings in every price category. Seven other houses were rented in the past month, but the same number came on line to leave the number of available rental listings at 24. Listings for sale in Westmount range from $1,149,000 to $27,500,000, while the rentals range from $4,000 to $20,000 per month.

Posted by andy Posted in: Monthly Analysis No Comments » March 2021

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